What we offer
Divorce and separation solicitors
Our specialist divorce lawyers can help you through all aspects of a relationship breakdown including divorce, separation, financial settlements and arrangements for children.
Our divorce and separation solicitors offer a 30 minute free initial consultation to allow you to understand your options.
Divorce services – how we can help you
In our family law team, specialist divorce solicitors handle cases with the utmost sensitivity and always put clients first.
Our divorce solicitors cover a variety of specific areas, including:
- Starting divorce proceedings (applicants) If you’re the individual wanting to begin proceedings, or you want to file a joint application, we can take you through the process.
- Responding to divorce proceedings (respondents) If your former partner has filed an application, we can explain your options and help you with what happens next
- Civil partnership dissolution If you have been in a civil partnership for at least a year and want to bring it to an end, we can help you apply to the court for a dissolution.
- Separation agreements You may decide that you want a formal separation agreement instead of a divorce. We can draw up an agreement that clarifies your situation.
- Financial settlements The division of assets following a divorce can be complicated. For more information, see our page on financial claims.
- Child arrangements We can help with living arrangements, financial support agreements and contact arrangements. For more information, see our children matters page.
- High net worth divorce We are specialists in cases which involve business ownership and/or a high level of net worth. These are often more complex and need our expert attention.
- Spousal maintenance We can assist in making sure you have enough income to meet your needs through any divorce process and for the longer term.
- Separation involving a business We can work with you to preserve a business despite domestic separation. Unlike many competitors, we have colleagues specialising in commercial and corporate work who will work with us to identify the status of a business, the options for a business structure, and process extrication from a business where appropriate.
- Separation involving house sale or transfer Unlike many competitors, we have colleagues specialising in conveyancing who will work with us to sell or transfer ownership of a property.
The divorce process
We’ve outlined the stages of the divorce process here; these all apply if you are in a same sex or opposite sex marriage. Our divorce solicitors can also take you through these should you take up the offer of a free 30 minute consultation.
- Divorce application
One person makes an application to court to end the marriage. You can also apply jointly. - Acknowledgment of service / confirmation of acknowledgement
Your partner is sent a copy of the divorce petition and has 14 days to complete and return to the court. - Reflection period
This is a minimum of 20 weeks and allows practical arrangements such as care of children or financial agreements to be made. - Conditional order
The court is asked to proceed with your divorce and if it is approved, there is a six-week period before you can apply for the final order.
If you have agreed on financial adjustments, (house transfers or sales, pension sharing or joint account allocation of funds for example), once the conditional order is granted you can submit your proposed financial order to the judge to approve. If you can’t agree the financial division, a judge can make a final financial order after separate court proceedings. - Final order application The court grants the final order which confirms your divorce.
Fixed fee divorce
We can undertake the divorce process for you for a fixed fee of £450 plus vat plus court fee (applicant) or £250 plus vat (respondent). This simply covers bringing the marriage to an end. Any work on financial and child arrangements would be charged separately.
Basis for divorce
Following the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act (2020), the new ‘no-fault’ divorce system is now in place. This allows couples to divorce without assigning blame to one party; instead, those wishing to divorce need simply state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
In order to begin proceedings, the couple must have been married for at least 12 months. There is now a minimum period of 20 weeks from the start of proceedings to a ‘Conditional Order’, designed to allow time for reflection and to make arrangements for finances and family matters. There is a further period between the Conditional Order and the Final Order which finalises the divorce, and this is a minimum of 6 weeks.
Whilst the process may now be more straightforward, there are often complex financial and practical arrangements involved. Speaking to a legal professional who can help you every step of the way can help resolve issues and come to the most positive conclusion possible.
